Comics Reviews: The Confessional, Hender; Pinky & Pepper Forever, Atoms; Cry Wolf Girl, Ries

Go read Pinky & Pepper Forever! Fondly pressing my UIR tag to its forehead like a produce sticker.


Title: The Confessional
Author: Paige Hender
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2025
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 200
Total Page Count: 562,355
Text Number: 2122
Read Because: reading the publisher, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: A young vampire struggling to adapt to her new life begins a questionable romance with a vigilante priest. This is solid, polished, and satisfying: consistent art that has a lot of fun with background details and monster design, a distinct historical setting, and a combo of dark, manipulative romance and vampire found family. I like it! And it's effectively a first novel, with the subsequent limitations that I'd expect, particularly in heavy-handed resolutions to the interpersonal elements, that kept me from doing more than liking it.


Title: Pinky & Pepper Forever
Author: Eddy Atoms
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2025 (2018)
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 135
Total Page Count: 562,490
Text Number: 2123
Read Because: reading the publisher, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: Puppygirl art school girlfriends break up when Pinky commits suicide, and get back together when Pepper follows her to hell. This (furry, cartoony, of a certain age and angst) isn't my style; it grew on me, anyway. The metaphor of inhabiting, owning, & enjoying societal (expectations of) suffering is effective and, better, a lot of fun. Distinctive, vibrant, strongly figured; dynamic character/relationship arcs without ever compromising on codependent lesbian pups.

The comic is 80 pages; the 2025 special edition has a bunch of bonus material. Great bonus material, too; the mixed-media style and development of OCs who began as fashion dolls enriches the reading experience.


Title: Cry Wolf Girl
Author: Ariel Slamet Ries
Published: Silver Sprocket, 2019
Rating: N/A
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 562,540
Text Number: 2124
Read Because: reading the publisher, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: I don't get on with narratives that are just about mental illness. Vibrant, effective art; read it, it works; but I bounced off it like a rubber ball.

DNF'd Books: Withered Hill, Barnett; We Live Here Now, Pinborough; Dream Fossil, Satoshi Kon

Still catching up on 2025; here's a trio of what I didn't read.

Title: Withered Hill
Author: David Barnett
Published: Canelo Horror, 2024
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 45 of 360
Total Page Count: 553,155
Text Number: 2074
Read Because: browsing erotic horror from the library and definitely this is horny; ebook borrowed from Multnomah County Library
Review: DNF at 12%. Reads fast enough, dual timelines will do that, and it's certainly goes ham with the folk horror. But nothing about the horny haunted thriller tone is working for me; big breasted boobily energy in the female PoV.


Title: We Live Here Now
Author: Sarah Pinborough
Published: Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar, 2025
Rating: 1.5 of 5
Page Count: 90 of 290
Total Page Count: 553,245
Text Number: 2075
Read Because: browsing erotic horror from the library and definitely this is horny; ebook borrowed from Multnomah County Library
Review: DNF at 30%. I'm a hard sell on first person, and really need a distinctive voice and preferably textual justification for the perspective; my nightmare is alternating, undifferentiated first person PoVs, and guess what's going on here! Credit given, I did poke around for spoilers before putting this down, but the petty each-partner-has-a-secret mysteries are underwhelming and transparent bids for suspense; the house itself is more interesting, and I enjoy the concept of haunted houses with more robust and speculative logics than simple ghosts. But this is poorly written, manipulative, and boring on its way to that speculative reveal.


Title: Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon
Author: Satoshi Kon
Translator: Yota Okutani
Published: Vertical Comics, 2015
Rating: N/A
Page Count: 50 of 520
Total Page Count: 562,590
Text Number: 2125
Read Because: reading the publisher, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library via Hoopla
Review: DNF two stories in. I tend to bounce off manga short stories, and am here: same-face syndrome conspires with the limited length to make for ungrounded, rushed stories.